T-Day

Usually I can get past missing Thanksgiving, to the point of I normally have something for dinner completely opposite I believe last year was either pizza or Chinese food. This year just having been in the US with my family a little while ago makes it almost unbearable. And for the first time in ages I spent most of the morning in one of the blackest moods I’ve ever had (it never lasts, I’m to chipper).

Tonight I’ll be skyping with my family after they’ve finished off the whole shebang.

Turkey
Stuffing
Cranberry Sauce
Sweet Potatoes
Green bean casserole
Home made bread

And the most important, Pumpkin Pie.

We on the other hand are having steak pie with chips. When I was back in the US and the one year we had a T-day in Nottingham I used to go overboard and I made nearly everything. I’m leaning that way at Christmas but only doing starters and deserts (which means at least 4 kinds).

One of my favourite new recipes was learned at the T-day we had in Nottingham, though I’ve modified it a bit so you can make it while completely tipsy.

Boozy Cranberry Sauce:-

1 bag whole cranberries
1 bottle of port (it can be the smaller one)
Clear honey

Empty cranberries into a sauce pan, cover with just enough port. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 – 30 minutes. Add honey to take the bite off it and then let it cool.

It really is a great recipe (though I still miss the congealed type you get in a can, thank you Ocean Spray), everyone loves it and I still think you could have it on ice cream.

I will have to make a special effort to have T-day next year and invite those I think would enjoy it.

Back in the USA

I'd forgotten, after four years exactly how much food is around in the USA. I spent ten days there and after the first two had to cut my meals per day down to two otherwise I'm not sure I would have been able to fit on the plane back!

It started off with the plane food, KLM/Delta like to keep you well fed, peanuts, pretzels, pasta, pizza and ice cream were on the menu across. But it didn't stop there, upon my arrival my Dad picked me up and dragged me to Duncan Donuts so coffee was none stop and then after a trip around the area we stopped at one of my favorite sub shops, Hill Top. I had a cheese steak sub (I take mine with provolone cheese, lettuce and mayo)I could barely finish it but god it was good.

Dad made me breakfast on Saturday, toast, bacon (American style and crispy) and scrambled eggs. Then we were off to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum in Chantilly Virginia. After looking at all of the amazing planes and space craft we decided to have lunch in the building classic American - MacDonald's, I had to have a strawberry milkshake with my burger and fries. Dinner however was beyond me macaroni and cheese (Dad has upgraded to Velveta), peas and American baked beans (these have brown sugar and what I believe was onion) with a hot dog - which wasn't even chopped up! I couldn't eat it all, I stayed it safe with the mac and cheese and peas.

Sunday's breakfast at Denny's, I had french toast, bacon with scrambled eggs. We went to the Baltimore Street Car Museum where we got to ride on old street cars. Then we went to a place called Valley View farms they have an awesome Christmas display that they put up every year. Dinner was Campbell's chicken and dumpling soup with ritz crackers. Thankfully my Dad's girlfriend realised by this point that I wasn't a huge eater and only had a small bowl. I made sure that desert was worthy however, and I purchased a raspberry crumb cake from Weber's Cider Farm. I also purchased a jar of apple butter and a half gallon of apple cider (this is the American version) we had it hot and it was so very good for a cold day!

Monday meant it was time to hit Chicago! It started with breakfast at the Bongo room where I had two red velvet pancakes with vanilla sauce. We walked around Chicago, went to the Field Museum and Chicago Institute of art. Dinner was chicken enchilada's. At Miller's I started with a Budweiser and followed with two pints of some beer called flywheel. I was also introduced to chocolate bars with bacon, if you haven't tried this you really should - it's deep fried awesome without the deep frying.

Tuesday started at Yolk where I had cinnamon roll french toast... it was awesome. I arrived back in Maryland and had an hour trip to Cambridge where my aunt and uncle live and they had a thanksgiving dinner, turkey, sweet potatoes with apples, green beans, fresh bread, apple sauce followed by pumpkin pie!

Wednesday started with frittata which is a lot of eggs, milk, cheese and chopped up sausages. We went to Delaware to the outlet center as stuff is cheaper and you don't pay sales tax. I went a little crazy on Halloween stuff. Dinner was steak, fries and salad at Outback Steak house. I've never ordered a steak before so it was an experience.

Thursday was pancakes made by my uncle (sadly not from scratch but Aunt Jemima does well as a substitute), we spent the day out in the middle of no where however these places normally have the best food and we had Crab Imperial at a place called Old Salties I had mine with coleslaw and a birch beer. The coleslaw was amazing!

Friday saw another batch of frittata and Cinnamon bread, we walked around Cambridge a lot and dinner was at a place called Jimmy & Sooks (the names of male and female crabs)where I had a crab cake sandwich, cream of crab soup and fries. It was beyond good, the fries at this place are second to none. We had a pit stop at the local grocery store so I could pick up some old bay seasoning and I spied Bergers Cookies, which are an old favorite and I'm not sure if they are sold outside of Baltimore - they're basically a vanilla wafer with a slab of chocolate fudge on top! We took a break later in the afternoon and made an apple pie before we went to see my uncles band play at a local school. I got teary eyed when they played The Star Spangled Banner.

Saturday was Belgian waffles made again by my uncle and dinner after a walk around the Crownsville Rennancace festival was at Mikes Crab house where I had crab stuffed shrimp with fries and cole slaw. The crab stuffed shrimp was amazing. I have to say the food available at the ren fest when from typical to insane. Turkey legs, cheesecake on a stick, crab meat pretzels, large dill pickles, pizza, chili, crab cake sandwiches, roasted anything, peanuts and sugar coated almonds...apple dumplings with vanilla ice cream.

I followed up the day having a load of stuff I really shouldn't have marshmallow and cherry snow cone, donuts (honey glazed), pumpkin spiced lattes, UTZ potato chips, mint chocolate chip ice cream (it's green) and candies.

Sunday started off with pilsbury cinnamon rolls and bacon. At Atlanta airport I had another cheese steak sub this time including fried onions and twizzlers!

The food on the flight home wasn't that great, pasta and an egg sandwich but it was nice to be back to smaller fare. Dinner was two slices of toast with a liberal amount of apple butter on top (I was really surprised a glass jar made it through but it did).

My first full day back in the UK I had two crumpets with peanut butter, coffee, apple cider and chicken and chips with gravy. I waited until I was so hungry I felt it, something I missed in the past 10 days!

Chicken!

In the US Perdue chickens come in the supermarkets with a pop up timer installed. This is to ensure you do not over cook the chicken. My mother would never trust these timers and on occasion completely ruined a whole chicken.

One notable time the cats wouldn't even eat the chicken.

So to say I can actually cook chicken isn't a big deal, it's just I use a timer and make sure I don't over cook. You know, following the instructions sometimes does work ;)

I found two things that really go well with chicken, tarragon and leek. I don't think I'd ever had leek before last year and hadn't a clue what tarragon was. However I purchased an english pie recipe book and one of the recipes has become my favorite.

Chicken, Leek and Tarragon Pie

1.5 to 2 lbs cooked and shredded chicken
1 carrot chopped
2 celery sticks chopped (optional)
2 onions chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
2 leeks sliced
200 ml stock
150 ml white wine
2tbsp plain flour
150 ml single cream or milk
pepper to taste
2 tsp tarragon (this is an estimate I just dash)
1 short crust pastry (I tend to use the stuff that you just mix water to)


In a medium sauce pan, simmer 1 onion, carrot and celery for 5 minutes. Add half the tarragon.

Add in stock, bring to boil and simmer for 30 minutes.

In another frying pan gently cook leeks and remaining onion with butter for about 5 minutes. Turn the heat up to high add the wine and simmer rapidly for 3-4 minutes until reduced by half. Stir in the flour mix well for 1 minute. Pour in the cream and about 150 ml of the stock. Add in a bit of pepper.

Mix both batches with the shredded chicken and add to the prepared pie shell.

Place pie top over. (optional - you can brush a beaten egg over the top for a better pie top)

Bake at 180 for 30 minutes.

Birthday Cup Cakes

I celebrated my 33rd birthday last Friday. As there seems to be a rule in England that you bring in goodies on your birthday to work I decided chocolate cup cakes were the best option.

There are many chocolate cake recipes and I've tried my fair share. Tuxedo cake is a good one it's made with butter milk which you can find in the US at any supermarket however here in the UK it's a lot harder to find.

I forget where this receipe came from but it is probably the best by far.



Chocolate Cup Cakes

2 Eggs
1 cup butter
2.5 cups plain flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups sugar
1 cup hot water


Cream butter and sugar, add eggs vanilla. Mix well.

Add in cocoa powder and hot water. Mix well

Add in everything else and you guessed it, mix well.

Bake at 350F for 20 minutes for cup cakes

For the icing:-

2 containers of double cream
1/4 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder

Mix for 5 minutes at top speed.

15th August

15th August four years ago my Mom passed away. She had cancer.

Every 15th August I remember my Mom in food. She loved to have me around to bake for her. She would bring home recipes for me to try just so she could taste test them.

This year I couldn’t decide on what to bake, so instead I went to Patisserie Valerie in Leeds and bought a slice of their double chocolate gauche cake.

I also stopped and bought a can of Coors Light as it was her favourite and after a lengthy discussion with a coworker a frozen pizza.

I sat down watching a TV show Mom would have probably enjoyed and had all three.

Every year it gets a little easier to cope with her loss. One day I may be able to get through the day without forgetting 15 things I should have done etc but until then I’ll remember her in a very apt way.

Classic American - Apple Pie

We were invited to a BBQ at a friends Dad's house. I always feel you should bring something to this sort of event, be it wine or food. So I offered to bring deserts.

I made a very easy fruit salad, though I must say I was disapointed with the strawberries I got at Morrisons! I've been spoiled by the strawberry farm up the road. I also made Lemon Drizzel cup cakes and the ultimate, Apple Pie.

Apple pie is one of the American favorites, so bramley apple pie eat your heart out.

For the Americans, apple pie over this side of the atlantic doesn't really have cinnamon in it.... and my mother in law made it from a can once. A CAN. The horror.

All 8 people at the BBQ loved the apple pie.

So here is my recipe, the pie crust is a new recipe but I have to say it is amazing and it adds to my cooking with alchohol idea !

Vodka Pie Crust

2 1/2 cups plain flour
2 tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (make sure this is at room temperature)

1/4 cup cold water
3 tbs vodka

Mix together gently, make into two balls and put in the fridge for 1 hour.

When ready, roll out on a floured surface and place in pie plate etc.

Apple Pie

1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
6-8 medium apples (I use granny smith)
1/2 cup sultanas (optional - its the only way I can get my husband to eat this)
2 tbs butter

Peal, core and cut apples into slices. Mix everything else but the butter. Pour into prepared pie plate.

Crumble butter over top apple mixture and then place pie crust on top.

Bake at 425F for 40 - 50 minutes

Optional Cream topping

1 package of cream cheese
1 container of double cream
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp icing sugar

Mix with mixer on high speed for about 4 minutes.

Cinnamon Tastic

One of my favorite breakfasts is cinnamon rolls, specifically Pillsbury Cinnamon rolls.


For the English who don't have them, they're lovely cinnamon buns with icing. They come in a tube and all you have to do is put them in a pan and put the icing on and bake for 20 minutes.

Sadly they are not sold in England so I haven't had them in 5+ years.

After two failed attempts to make them myself I found a recipe using the breadmaker. Which has worked very well for my first attempt, I did however find that the original baking time was too long.

Ingredients:

1 cup milk
1 large egg
4 tablespoons butter or margarine
3 1/3 cups bread flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons active dry yeast or 1-1/2 teaspoons bread machine/ rapid rise yeast
---
Filling:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon


Preparation:
Add ingredients to bread machine as recommended by manufacturer. Program maker for the dough cycle. When cycle is done, place dough on floured surface. Knead dough about 1 minute, then let rest 15 minutes. Roll dough into a rectangle, about 15 x 10 inches. Spread 1/4 cup melted butter over dough to within 1 inch of edges, Then sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar, the cinnamon evenly over dough. Roll dough up tightly on long side. Press edges to seal and form into a 12-inch long, evenly shaped roll. With a knife or 8 inch long piece of dental floss, cut roll into 1 inch pieces. Place rolls cut side down into a greased 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise in warm, draft free place until double in size, about 30 to 45 minutes.

Bake in preheated 375 degrees F oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on rack for 10 to 15 minutes, then drizzle with powdered sugar icing made by combining 1 cup powdered sugar with 1 to 2 tablespoons milk and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla. Blend until smooth. If too thin or too thick, add more powdered sugar or milk, respectively, until desired consistency is reached. Cut apart and remove from pan.

Discovering Chutney

Growing up with my family they avoided a lot of Asian and Indian foods. I only had Chinese food once in a blue moon when Dad wasn't in the house and Mom wanted Shrimp Chow Mien with crunchy noodles. Indian food I hadn't heard of until I came to the UK and tried a Red Curry, thinking red meant the type of veggies used. Thankfully Mark had gotten a Green Curry which helped (I mixed them together).

We started going to Curry Restaurants in Leeds our favorite is Nawabb right near where I work. And they always ask if we would like poppadoms and they came with a plate of about 6 types of chutney. Of course I always had to try them all, some are creamy others spicy. My favorite is Mango Chutney as it's sweet.



Yesterday I decided that I was going to make a curry for dinner and thought a poppadom/chutney plate would be an perfect addition. However we have never owned chutney and I'm sure my Branston Pickle idea as a substitute wouldn't have gone down well. Off to Morrisons (a grocery store near Mark's work) and I purchased three types of chutney and some poppadoms.



I decided to go with the Morrison's brand and got Tomato, Onion and Fruit. The tomato one is a bit bland, it's not bad but it's not amazing either. The onion one is sweeter than I expected and looked to have mustard seeds in it. The Fruit one said it contained apple, mango & raisins, it was pretty darn good. I could probably eat the whole jar given half a chance.

However all three jars said you could put these on sandwiches.... Which seems a bit strange. I will however attempt to have some with wraps over the weekend.

BTW from my limited experience home made tomato chutney is way better than store bought. I really should have asked Jen & Jack for a jar when I was in Nottingham last. Oh well, live and learn!

Quiche

I’d never heard of quiche until I came to the UK. I had however heard of eggy pie (the American version depending on where you live) but I’d never had it.

However my mother in law introduced me to quiche and I do like it. Quiche is all about what you put in it.

My favourite is mushroom, but I like peppers as well and sometimes onion. Mark likes it with bacon as well as mushroom & onion.

I think the key to a good quiche is the egg to cheese ratio. Otherwise it’s too eggy.

So here is the recipe that my mother in law passed onto me that’s worked every time (except the first time I didn’t cook the mushrooms first!).

Quiche Pastry

¼ cup lard (at room temperature) or Crisco
½ cup self raising flour
1 table spoon milk
1 table spoon water

Mix the above together in a bowl until it holds together, the lard should be at a temperature that will allow you to blend it (otherwise it’s hard as rock).

Chill in the fridge for 1 hour (this helps when it’s time to roll it out).

Once the hour is up, roll pastry out onto a floured surface and place into quiche pan or shallow pie pan.

Quiche

3 eggs
1 cup of milk
1 cup of grated cheddar cheese

Mix the eggs and milk with a whisk.

If you want anything else, onions, mushrooms, bacon etc make sure it has been cooked first before putting into the quiche otherwise it won’t work.

Pour into prepared quiche pan. Sprinkle grated cheese on top.

Bake at 200C for 20 to 30 minutes. Let rest for about 5 minutes before serving if you’re having it hot. This can be eaten cold as well.

Bread!

Every once in a while I remember I have a bread maker. In fact I have a recipe I'm dying to try using it but I never seem to have everything I need. Today wasn't an exception.

Instead of cinnamon rolls I'm baking Cinnamon Raisin Bread. Sadly the recipe I originally used for this as gone AWOL so after a google search I've decided to make the following one.

Which turned out very well, I think I need to adjust where I put the breadmaker as all the raisins ended up on one side of the bread. Still, very yummy!

Ingredients

1 cup water
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
3 cups Gold Medal® Better for Bread™ flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
3/4 cup raisins

How to make it

Measure carefully, placing all ingredients except raisins in bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Add raisins at the Raisin/Nut signal or 5 to 10 minutes before last kneading cycle ends.

Select Sweet or Basic/White cycle. Use Medium or Light crust color. Remove baked bread from pan and cool on wire rack.

Smokin’

Nearly two weeks ago I was defrosting ground beef in the microwave and at 19 seconds left smoke poured out of the top.

It took it 7 plus years but we finally killed the microwave without really trying. So I thought why not try to live without one. See how long I could go.

I didn’t think it would be hard, I tend to use the microwave to defrost, heat up, melt butter and make oatmeal.

The first week seemed the hardest, remembering that I would have to add about 30 minutes to heat up food wasn’t easy. The other problem being what can and can’t you heat up in the oven without killing it.

Week two I remembered aluminum foil, which has helped the warming up process a lot.

However I’m still not 100% comfortable without the microwave. But I will continue trying. I may even attempt making oatmeal on the stove (I’m sure it’s possible).

-Sabrina

Cider

In the US they have two types of apple cider. Regular which can be drunk cold or mulled – Starbucks sell hot apple cider in the fall you can get it with whipped cream (it’s awesome). And they also have hard apple cider which is the alcoholic version.

So I was very surprised the first time I purchased a bottle of apple cider in England. First off it’s carbonated, and it’s alcoholic. They don’t have anything like the American version of apple cider here. It took years for me to get over that before I could drink a cider here.

Eventually I discovered Bulmers and Magners Pear ciders which are pretty good, this lead to me drinking the normal apple version as well.

When we were in Nottingham a few years ago for a friends Hag Do (bachelor/bachelorett party) we stopped in a pub that had something called Aspall Cider. To be perfectly honest I bought it based on the look of the bottle, I’m so glad I did as from all the ciders I’ve tried so far (there are a whole lot of varieties) it is my favourite.

And when I say there are a lot of varieties, I’ve only tried. Strawberry, Strawberry and Lime, Raspberry and Lime, Aspall’s Blush, apple, pear, summer fruit…. Like I said there are so many. I think there’s a blueberry….

Oh and the once when I had Strongbow….

Which I think isn’t probably made of apple, more like cardboard but oh well. (I’ll try any drink once)

So here’s to the end of a busy Saturday with an Aspall Cider.

(which is being drunk out of a wine glass – deal with it).

-Sabrina

Strawberry Season

We only live a few minutes from a strawberry farm. You can either pick your own or for a few weeks a year they have a cart by the side of the road where you can buy them by the container. Each year I make a version of strawberry shortcake for my work, this year because I have a cup cake pan I made strawberries and cream cup cakes!

Cup Cake Recipe (yellow cake)

1 12 cups plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 200C

Cream butter and sugar in bowl. Add in eggs & vanilla until mixed. Mix in remaining dry ingredients and milk.

Spoon into cup cake pan only filling the cases 3/4's full.

Bake for 15 minutes

Once cool, using 1 container of double cream - blend with a few tbs of sugar for 5 minutes on maximum speed.

Spread whipped cream onto cup cakes. Add strawberries!

Baltimore Foods

There are a few foods from the USA that I miss a lot. Sometimes I get a craving for Nilla Wafers or Combos. However there are two foods that I always miss.

Cheese Steak Subs – growing up my Dad always took me to HillTop Carryout on East Fort Avenue in Baltimore (http://www.hilltopcarryout.com/). He still goes there and they’ve opened another location closer to him (B&A Blvd). They serve a variety of foods, I however have only had their cheese steak subs. My way of ordering it is with provolone cheese, lettuce and mayo (Mom & Dad got fried onions and sometimes changed the cheese). I still remember when I first managed to eat a whole one by myself I think it was one of Dad's proudest moments. I’ve tried other places including the one time Sub Way order, which I do NOT recommend (avoid Sub Way at all costs when it comes to their steak & cheese sub, it’s vile). Recently friends found provolone cheese while they were in Spain, they were kind enough to share it with me and I must say the English are missing out on provolone cheese.

Blue Steamed Crabs – another must if you grow up anywhere around the Chesapeake Bay is the famous steamed crabs. These are steamed in a pot including beer and a spice called Old Bay. You pull the legs off, gut the buggers and pick the meat out. A lot of restaurants have these on the menu, you can sit around a table covered in newspaper with knifes and hammers at the ready and pick crabs for ages (having a beer with them is nearly mandatory).

For those who don’t like to sit and pick through shellfish there is the Maryland Style Crab Cake. My Nana’s recipe is one I swear by, which I’ll share.

I can’t wait until I get to go back to the USA, as I’ll be having both of these favorites when I visit!

Nana’s Crab Cake Recipe

1 can (1lbs) (450 grams) Crab Meat
1 tsp salt (you can use less)
1/8 or 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
Black Pepper to taste
1 tsp dried or fresh chopped parsley
1 tsp dry powdered mustard
1 tsp vinegar cider
1 egg slightly beaten
1 tbs Mayonnaise
1/3 cup (43 grams) crushed crackers (biscuits for cheese)
1/2 tsp Paprika

Pick through crab meat for shells try not to break up lumps of meat.

In large bowl beat egg lightly. Add ingredients except crab meat/crushed crackers. Stir well.

Drop crab meat into bowl, add in some of the crushed crackers just enough to hold together the crab meat. Make into patties (about the size of a small burger)

Mix paprika with left over crushed crackers sprinkle over patties.

Fry in lard or butter or oil for 5 to 8 minutes on medium heat. They will brown.

Place on kitchen towel once fried to drain off excess oil.

Serve plain or with tartar sauce or with ketchup.

Cup Cakes

Cup cakes seem to be very popular at the moment, people use them for wedding cakes (no cutting needed!) and the amount of fun toppings make cup cakes nearly endless in the things you can do with them.

Originally I had planned to make red velvet cup cakes for the Eurovision party I was going to but in the end I purchased some M&S cookies to take with me. When it came to using up some of the baking ingredients I wanted to make them for work only to discover I didn't actually have any red food coloring. In the end I went with chocolate cup cakes with cream cheese icing!

Chocolate Cup Cakes

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1¼ cups hot water
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ cup butter
1 cup sugar
¾ cup light brown sugar
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350F

Cream butter and sugars till fluffy. Add in eggs and vanilla alternate between mixing in flour/baking powder and hot water until well mixed.

In cupcake tin put in liners and fill these 3/4 full with mix.

Bake at 350F 15 minutes. Once cool put on icing.


Cream Cheese Icing

8 container of cream cheese
6 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups icing(powdered) sugar

Put ingredients into a high sided bowl, use a mixer to mix properly. Spread onto cooled cup cakes and enjoy!

Condiments

One thing that has been bothering me lately. Have you ever noticed that on Ketchup bottles it always says Tomato Ketchup. I've been wondering if there is any other kind. I've never seen anything in a store to tell me there are other kinds of Ketchup's so why bother to put the word Tomato in at all?



Well a little research and I discovered this site Unusual Ketchup's apparently there is an apple ketchup...

A little further thinking made me wonder at Pickle Relish, I'd never known another type of relish until now. I've got two words for you Branston Pickle. It's made from a variety of diced vegetables, including swede, carrots, onions, cauliflower and gherkins pickled in a sauce made from vinegar, tomato, apple and dates with spices such as mustard, coriander, garlic, cinnamon, pepper, cloves, nutmeg and cayenne pepper with sugar.

I've just started using this on cheese sandwiches and it's all sorts of awesome! If you can find some I highly recommend.




I also find it strange that people get funny about what condiments you use. My Dad would have a fit if I put Tomato Ketchup on a hot dog. I could put mustard and pickle relish but no ketchup! I never really understood that at all. I've had mayo with fries/chips but would never put vinegar on them.

I guess it depends on what you like ;)

Summer Treats

Summer is nearly here! We've had a few really nice weekends recently (highly unusual) so in light of that I thought I'd post a few summer treat recipes up one from each side of the family or inspired by.

My Nana does an truely awesome lemon meringue pie, I've never quite mastered it so I had to find my own recipe until I finally get her recipe perfect.

Easy Lemon Meringue Pie


1 single 10 inch pie crust already made (you can buy pastry mix and blind bake this - meaning without filling for about 15 minutes at 200C, graham cracker works too for crust or crushed hob nobs)



Filling
4 cans condensed milk
1 cup lemon juice
6 egg yokes

Meringue
6 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar

For filling, mix ingredients and pour into prepared pie crust.

For meringue in a high sided bowl mix ingredients with a mixer on high for about 4 minutes or until stiff peaks form.

Using a spatual spoon meringue onto pie filling closing all the edges. For peaks take back of spoon and press gentley onto meringue top and pull away to make pretty peaks!

Bake at 200C for about 5 to 7 minutes or until the top is a little brown.

My Grandfather has passed down to me his chocolate chip cookie recipe which I am very known for. These cookies have been given out at conventions, as Christmas presents and are always enjoyed! Somedays like today I get a little lazy and don't feel like making the cookies, so I make these into bars instead.

Chocolate Chip Cookies (or Bars)

1 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 cup plain flour
1 12oz pack of chocolate chips (or chop up a large dairy milk bar)

Preheat oven to 375F or gas mark 5

Mix butter & sugars until creamy. Add in eggs and vanilla until mixed. Add in baking powder and flour mix until all the flour is mixed in.

Add chocolate.

If you are going for cookies, you'll need teaspoons to dole these out onto cookie sheets. They make about 48 cookies. Bake at 375F for 8 minutes.

If you are doing bars lighly grease a 13x8 baking pan, press cookie mixture into pan and bake for about 30 - 40 minutes.

Saying Goodbye The Right Way

Nikki had her last day at my work today, so earlier in the week I had asked her if she wanted me to bake anything for her as we both share a sweet tooth bigger than Texas. She asked for something chocolate and gooey.

About 4 hours later I had the perfect thing.

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake


1 1/4 cup sugar (divided)
1 cup flour (plain)
7 tbs cocoa powder (divided)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup melted butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cup boiling hot water

Preheat oven to 350F

Combine 3/4 cup sugar, flour, 3 tbs cocoa powder and baking powder in bowl. Mix in milk, melted butter and vanilla. Pour into ungreased 8x8 baking dish (make sure this dish has high sides to avoid spillage). In a smaller bowl, combine, 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar and remaining cocoa powder. Sprinkle over top of previous mixture in baking dish.

Pour hot water into baking dish - DO NOT STIR

Bake at 350 for roughly 40 minutes.

This should come out with cake on top and chocolate goo on the bottom. Serve hot or at room temp. You can put ice cream or cream on this as well. It's really an amazingly easy and yummy cake!

Snicker Whats?

Snickerdoodles.

Its a type of cookie (biscuit for the English). Basically if you like cinnamon and sugar you will enjoy these light and lovely cookies. They are also a great way to use up that one last egg in the fridge.

Snickerdoodles




1/2 cup butter
1 cup of sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup plain flour

also 4 tbs sugar and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix all but the last two ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

In a small bowl mix cinnamon and sugar, set aside.

Preheat oven to 350F

Take cookie dough out of the fridge, roll into 1inch size balls. Roll into cinnamon and sugar mixture. Place on baking sheet.

With back of spoon flatten balls a bit (not paper thin you just want them smushed down a little).

Bake cookies for about 10 minutes. Place on wire rack to cool (if you can wait that long).

Chocolate Goodness

Nearly everyone loves chocolate. I've only known two people who didn't like it that much. So when we had a bake sale last week for Easter it wasn't a surprise that I was asked to bake and when I asked coworkers what to make the first response was brownies!

So here is my favorite brownie recipe, it's taken a long time to find the right one but I do so love this recipe!

Brownies

3/4 cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
2/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup boiling water
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3 cup plain flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped chocolate (optional)

Grease baking pan (13"x9") and pre heat oven to 350

Mix cocoa powder & baking soda, with 1/3 cup of the melted butter, add water. Stir in sugar, eggs and rest of the butter. Mix well.

Add flour and vanilla until mixed.

If you're adding the chopped chocolate add.

Pour into prepared baking pan and bake for 15-20 minutes. If you are using a smaller pan bake for longer. You want them to be done, but not well done. They should still be a bit fudgy.

Let cool and then cut into squares.

Viva Mexico!

Since living in Arizona for one year I have loved Mexican food. For any of you using Old El Paso, you can throw that out right now. It's offensive.

Fajita Seasoning

1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp onion powder (optional)
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp salt
2 tsp Chili powder
1 tsp sugar
1 chicken bouillon cube crushed

Mix all of the above in a bowl. You probably will have extra as I use about 2 tsp per batch of chicken/veggies.

Chop up some chicken, normally about 4 chicken breasts (cut them long ways into strips), add these to a skillet with about a tablespoon of oil and about 1 tsp of fajita seasoning, fry for about 5 minutes on medium high heat. Chop up some red and green peppers and onions and place in another skillet with another tsp of fajita seasoning fry about 5 minutes on medium high heat.

Have some soft tortillas wraps available, sour cream, guacamole, salsa etc and build your fajitas!

Beef Enchiladas

500 grams beef mince
1 onion chopped
2 can chopped tomato's
1/2 tsp garlic
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/4 tsp salt
8 tortillas
1 tbs oil
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350F or 200C

In skillet,place oil, brown beef and onion together and drain. Add 1 can of tomato's, garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt, coriander and heat mixture thoroughly.

In oven proof baking dish (I use the same one I use for Lasagna) place about three tablespoons of the beef mixture into a tortilla and roll up placing them seam side down into dish.

If you have left over beef mixture pour this and the other can of tomato over top the enchiladas.

Bake for 20 minutes. Sprinkle cheese over and put back in the oven for 5 minutes until cheese is melted.

-S

An all time favorite!

One savory recipe I am known for is my Corn Bread. To the English it's a bit like soda bread, but only a bit.

My Granddad gave me his recipe when I was younger and it's perfect. Technically this should be made in a cast iron skillet but I haven't had one in years.

Corn Bread

1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup plain flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
3/4 cups chopped onion
1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat oven at Gas Mark 8 or 425F

Greased baking dish, at least 8x8 inches, and over 1.5 inches deep.

Mix the above ingredients into bowl, pour into greased pan. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes, then if you want cut into squares and slice in half and butter.

If you're feeling brave once this has cooled take a piece and crumble into a cold glass of milk, I used to have this as a treat!

Twinkies, M&Ms and Twizzlers

There was a stall this weekend at the Kapow! Comic Book Convention by Cybercandy. They had a load of stuff so I dropped about £7 on American candy.

Peanut Butter Cups - Thank you Grandpop for ruining these for me, as your home made ones are 110 times better. Still I ate them ;)

Pretzel M&M's had been recommended to me by a guy in the Leniel Yu queue. I ate the whole pack and still cannot figure out if I liked them. I think the candy coating is a bit much, I loved Flips which were just chocolate covered pretzels.

Twinkies - I admit to not having one of these since I was a kid, I preferred the hostess cup cake. However the Twinkie does not hold up to the memory of a twinkie (or they've changed the recipe).

Lastly one of my favorite treats when I go to see a movie, strawberry twizzlers. Not the pull and peel ones but the classic 8 strips of darn near strawberry flavored wax. I love them dearly and these held up to my tastebud memories!

All in all £7 well spent ;)

Husbands Favorite Pudding

Pudding means different things to people. As an American I think of things like Jello Pudding Pops and Instant Jello Pudding.

To my husband it means dessert (or to be English, an after dinner sweet).

My husband doesn't like many desserts, Fairy Cakes, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and his Mother's Pineapple Cake.

I've made this cake so many times! So I'm sharing.

Pineapple Cake

1/2 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Cup Self Raising Flour
1 small tin of Pineapple peices + Juice
1/2 Cup Raisins (or Sultanas)
2 Eggs

Preheat oven to 200C

6 or 7 inch round cake tin greased (with butter)

In mixing bowl combine all ingredients. Pour into prepared cake tin.

Bake for 20-25 minutes

On both sides of the Atlantic

The first 23 years of my life I lived in the USA mostly in Baltimore Maryland but I spent a year in Arizona and six months in Pennsylvania. The rest I have spent in Leeds England which means I have a mixed taste in food. Some things I had never heard of before landing in the UK.

Quiche (which I can barely spell)
Curry
Thai Curry
Sausage Rolls
Pasties
Mince Pies
Fairy Cakes
Yorkshire Pudding

And that’s not including the funny named foods. Which there are a lot of!

I also had to get used to the different terms.

Cracker does not mean anything in England, they call them biscuits for cheese.
Biscuits are cookies in the generalist sense.

English Muffins, are just called muffins over here.

What American’s term muffins are called American Muffins….

Crumpets are completely different.

And mince = ground meat

Which makes Mince Pies a bit different as they do not contain meat!

Confused yet?

A lot of my recipes are still in American, I use cups to measure nearly everything. In England they use grams, millilitres, and sometimes ounces. So if you don’t understand cups there are loads of websites that will translate for you.

To show the differences my first two recipes are:-

Simple Single Cheesecake

2 packs of cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 pack of hob nobs (or if in the US crushed graham crackers, with a bit of melted butter)

mix the first 4 ingredients in a bowl.

Using a muffin tin with bun cases (muffin liners) place one hob nob in each, fill 3/4 of the way with cheesecake mix.

Bake at 350F or 180C for 20 minutes, let cool.

Put in fridge for at least an hour.

Variations: add baileys or lemon juice for a bit of a different flavor.

Fairy Cakes



1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cups self raising flour

Mix everything into a bowl

Using muffin tin, place bun cases in tin. Fill 3/4 of the way full with fairy cake mix.

Bake at gas mark 6 for 15 minutes.

In the beginning

Food is a part of everyone’s life.

I started baking with my Grandfather when I was about 6, it was cookies and cakes. I learned very early on that I enjoyed the experience. Not only the spending time with my Grandfather but the learning how to bake.

It wasn’t until I was in my late teens I attempted to cook dinner, which went badly. I’ve since improved, except when it comes to meats I’m still very much a learner there.

My parents were not great in the kitchen my Dad can only make two meals, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (from a box) and fried breakfasts. My Mom couldn’t bake at all and used to burn chill and slice cookies and her Chicken was normally offensive to the cats.

Still, I do love being in the kitchen but I prefer baking as it is more of an art to me. It looks pretty and tastes pretty. I also have my Nana to thank for my Sweet Tooth which is probably the size of Texas.

I’ll be posting recipes and experiences as I go. Enjoy!

-S